I’m sitting in my seat as the aircraft is teetering at the edge of the runway. The engine is at high power and its entire body shudders with pent-up energy. It’s straining at its leash like a deliriously slobbering but tied up puppy confronted with his lovely lickable master. And then suddenly, with a roar, it is off bounding up the runway and leaping eagerly into the big blue sky.
It’s not just me, but everyone around has temporarily stopped whatever they were doing and all attention is riveted on experiencing this wonderful growl, the surge and thrust of the engines… on these defining moments of the trip, this transition from earth to sky. you stop, you hear and you FEEL! Thrilll…and we’re off!
Once up in the air the momentum seems to ebb. The five year old in the seat behind remarks “it was going so fast, why has it become so slow now”. The pilot banks and I strain to make out my building in that fuzz of trees and street, I think I may have it but it has gone past too quick. We’re now over the sea and it glitters menacingly, beautifully. I think about the sharks in the water and how deep the part we are over must be.
Sunny day, fluffy clouds….a lovely aroma of warm bread floats through the cabin and now all I can think of is the big hole in my stomach. It’s way past my breakfast time. This is torture. Why does it always take so long for the cart to reach my seat.
Meal gobbled. o look a pat of butter. This is more butter than I should eat in a week. Oh well I guess a little with a bit of bread won’t hurt. Umm ummm umm. Now I’ve eaten the whole thing, it’s gone. There isn’t a crumb left on my tray. Can’t believe how much I can eat these days, I don’t even seem to be able to exercise any quality control any more, i.e., gorge only on things that are totally worth it. I will stuff myself with anything that’s in front of my face. Can’t believe this is the same person who would turn her nose up at most food and take 3 hours to finish lunch.
Now I have to visit the restroom, so I strain around awkwardly, but a trolley blocks the aisle. At least I don’t have to squeeze past fat men with spready thighs to get out. I think fondly of my travel agent for tele-checking me into an aisle seat. I love the aisle seat – easy access to bathroom, easier to control panic bouts of claustrophobia and no strategic battles for at least 1 arm rest.
Ping! The seat belt sign pops on. Ah! We are in for a spot of turbulence. Nothing like a bit of turbulence, it’s like a ride at the amusement park, good bang for your airline ticket price. Especially when the air craft falls through an air pocket and my stomach detaches itself and lurches about inside of me. Of course, theres a thin line between ‘what fun’… and the point when the stomach reaches the base of my throat. This is the point when I wonder if I should worry about this possibly becoming the last few minutes of my life. Am I ok to go yet? What’s done is done, what’s not…well I won’t be around to worry about it. But now I think about my family, will catty be sad...or devastated? What about my parents? O terrible. To see your child go before you. My eyes prickle with tears at the sadness they will feel. And I haven’t made a will. Would Catty know whom to give what. I picture him and my mum picking morosely through my silver jewelery. I run a visual list of my silver earrings through my mind and think about who to leave them to. Zen may like the fish, but so would Namrata. Maybe I should leave the hanging long types for Zen and the traditional ones for Namrata. But Zen likes coloured stones, I can’t remember if I have any. This is very tedious. I realize that the aircraft is coasting peacefully now. A troubling dilemma shelved until further turbulence.
I fall into a deep deep restful sleep. This often happens during the aircraft descent, I think it’s because of pressure or something…or maybe because I’ve been waking up every half hour from 2 a.m. worried that I may oversleep and miss my flight.
I’m rudely awakened during the best part of my sleep by loud announcements to stow the table etc. My lids keep drooping. Now we are going to land, I see the outside whizzing by and the aircraft’s screaming again. Why is the pilot revving the plane, shouldn’t he be slowing it down right about now! We are coming in very fast..too fast!…too fast!…is this my last landing??! I wait for the sickening sounds my tummy’s a tight knot, goodbye Catty I love you. Bang, roar, ROAR ROAR, break, squeal … no not this time…squeal , brake. Damn the pilots of this airline, thudding out of the sky like this. I guess their performance isn’t rated on good landings.
Anyway, Phewww! Aircraft taxies to a halt. Greasy Smart Alec beside me has been yabbering on his phone number one since 5 seconds after touchdown, while his second one rings and flashes. I glare at him to no effect.
Engines off, lights on. The cabin is suddenly crowded by the participants in the off-the-aircraft Olympics. They are jammed and stooped about in uncomfortable positions between seats for about 5 minutes until the ladder hits the plane with a slight tremor. Why they don’t just sit comfortably until the doors are opened, I can never understand. I sit in my seat and feel superior to all of them.
By,
Nafisa
Friday, July 03, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Withdrawal Symptoms
This year, I misjudged my endurance level and stayed away from the mountains for too long. Not only did I delay indulging in my fix of the snow-covered heights, I even minimised the short weekend treks in the Sahayadris with Odati that usually alleviate the longing. By Feb, I was itching to go back to the mountains. Stuck in traffic jams, every so often I would feel a hollow fist clench in my stomach as I thought of being surrounded by solitude and snow, soaking in the fresh air and silence instead of petrol fumes and the raucous blaring of car horns; every link to Kodak Gallery or Picassa that people sent with their holiday snaps would throw me into fits of jealousy and longing.
These symptoms vanished and were replaced by anticipation once I obtained leave from work and started planning a holiday. As D-Day approached, excitement mounted until I finally took off with friends for a vacation in the hills of Kumaon.
Though I had a great vacation that quenched the mountain withdrawal symptoms (for at least a few months, I hope) I found I had to cope with a new set of symptoms when I returned. My stomach, which since childhood had been able to deal with anything thrown into it and had performed it’s duties without a murmur of discontent under all kinds of conditions, now started acting fussy. It would rumble and grumble throughout the day, even with plain home food – almost as if it was having difficulty acclimatising to the humble low altitude.
To make things worse, I had returned with a humongous appetite – thanks to ten days of walking for hours in the cold and pigging out on yummy food secure in the knowledge that I was burning off all the calories. Now I still had the same voracious appetite, except that the temperamental stomach that ached with hunger would grumble petulantly the minute I actually ate anything! It took me ten days to get my appetite back to normal – ten days in which I ate much more fruit and soya than I wanted to in order to ensure that my supersized appetite did not result in too much weight gain.
To add to the petulant stomach, I had a non-cooperating mind. For a few days, my head felt heavy and woozy and I could not fully focus my thoughts – it felt as if I was wading through an ocean of cotton. A few hours of struggling to work in office and I was totally drained out – one would think I was attempting some major ascent instead of just clearing the mail that had piled up in the last week! I finally returned to normal after using a solution a much-travelled well-wisher shared with me – start thinking about where to go for your next vacation.
Moral of the story – Work is done best in between planning vacations
By,
Zen
These symptoms vanished and were replaced by anticipation once I obtained leave from work and started planning a holiday. As D-Day approached, excitement mounted until I finally took off with friends for a vacation in the hills of Kumaon.
Though I had a great vacation that quenched the mountain withdrawal symptoms (for at least a few months, I hope) I found I had to cope with a new set of symptoms when I returned. My stomach, which since childhood had been able to deal with anything thrown into it and had performed it’s duties without a murmur of discontent under all kinds of conditions, now started acting fussy. It would rumble and grumble throughout the day, even with plain home food – almost as if it was having difficulty acclimatising to the humble low altitude.
To make things worse, I had returned with a humongous appetite – thanks to ten days of walking for hours in the cold and pigging out on yummy food secure in the knowledge that I was burning off all the calories. Now I still had the same voracious appetite, except that the temperamental stomach that ached with hunger would grumble petulantly the minute I actually ate anything! It took me ten days to get my appetite back to normal – ten days in which I ate much more fruit and soya than I wanted to in order to ensure that my supersized appetite did not result in too much weight gain.
To add to the petulant stomach, I had a non-cooperating mind. For a few days, my head felt heavy and woozy and I could not fully focus my thoughts – it felt as if I was wading through an ocean of cotton. A few hours of struggling to work in office and I was totally drained out – one would think I was attempting some major ascent instead of just clearing the mail that had piled up in the last week! I finally returned to normal after using a solution a much-travelled well-wisher shared with me – start thinking about where to go for your next vacation.
Moral of the story – Work is done best in between planning vacations
By,
Zen
Friday, June 19, 2009
All I want Is a Roof Somewhere
On popular trekking routes, groups of tents huddled together are quite a common sight at points designated as night halts. Amongst my happy memories of sleeping in a tent is one of discovering my favourite mountain orchestra at Tsokha, a small settlement at about 10000 ft on the route to Dzongri in Sikkim (you can read about this trek here, here and here) . Playing to a musical score set by the forbidding mountains, the wind swooshed and whistled aggressively down the peaks onto the meadow where we were camped; this was offset by the reassuring, gentle tinkle of bells tied around the necks of pack-ponies as they grazed.
Tents are striking from an aesthetic viewpoint - whether the peaks are covered with shades of summer brown, monsoon green or winter white, the bright orange- yellow – purple tents add a dash of colour and their compact shape makes for a neat picture. However, the low roof and compact size tend to make them a bit claustrophobic and difficult to move about in, especially for someone with a large build, i.e. yours truly.
I would much rather sleep out in the open in a sleeping bag - weather permitting, of course, with the wind on my face, gazing at the starry sky and giggling my way to sleep as my companions come up with non-zodiac descriptions of the stars. Never to be forgotten is one young gentleman’s description of two unusually bright and prominent stars of a constellation as ‘Aunty Sharma’s (pause here for effect)…………..earrings’ and the reactions it evoked, half the group cackling with glee and the other more – astronomically - inclined half wincing at the sacrilegious intrusion on their discussion.
While tents, sleeping bags and caves such as the one in Harishchandragad are all a welcome change from mundane city life and have an adventurous element to them, it is on the Himalayan treks that one really gets to experience the entire range of shelters possible.
While trekking with Odati from an altitude of 12000 ft to that of 14000 ft in Arunachal Pradesh (read Anusha’s description of the trek here), we stayed in log huts made by the GREF - General Reserve Engineering Force. Like the BRO (Border Roads Organisation), these corps, unnoticed and unsung, are responsible for building much of the basic infrastructure in the border areas. When they work in remote areas for a short span of time, they often build log huts to stay in. Two of these, in Nagajiji and Dhonk chi phoo, were a boon to us - it was raining and snowing intermittently at both places and the charm of such weather fades very soon if you are directly exposed to it. Having a GREF hut implies not just thick wooden logs between the elements and yourself, but also a roof high above your head that allows you to stand up straight, enough room for 6-8 people to spread out their things comfortably and the added bonus of a log fire to warm you up. Truly the answer to the wish for a room somewhere !
‘All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air,
Lots of chocolates for me to eat
Lots of coal making lots of heat,
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet,
Aow, wouldn’t it be lovely ? ’
(with apologies to Ms. Eliza Doolittle)
(The GREF hut at Dhonk Chi Phoo)
Each GREF hut has its own unique features that you discover only when you enter. The one we stayed in at Nagajiji was big enough to have contained two Bombay-ishtyle 1BHKs in it. There was a big central fireplace near which we huddled to make the most of the warmth, even stretching our frozen feet out dangerously close to the flames. Around the fireplace were poles on which we tied strings and dried all our wet clothes, thus ending up smelling of wood-smoke for the next few days. The GREF hut in Dhonk chi phoo was as big as the one in Nagajiji but had a wall dividing it into two halves, almost like a planned conservative zenana-mardana divide. The wall even had tiny holes that enabled conversations across it !
In the same mountains but at a lower altitude of 10000 feet, we spent a night at a village called Lubrang near the Bhutan border. After a refreshing walk on a path overhung with rhododendron flowers, we arrived fully satiated and satisfied with the trip, prepared to spend the night in a corner of one of the villager’s houses. We were totally stunned when the village headman, who was our guide, invited us to stay in the village Gompa (Buddhist monastery or place of worship). I initially thought I must have misunderstood him, until one of my companions actually spread out his sleeping bag and went to sleep, right inside the sanctum ! In his defense, I must mention that he was unwell and suffering from fever and a bad cold. (As an aside, consider what a title that would make for a book – ‘I snored at the feet of the Buddha’, a bit blasphemous, but definitely attention grabbing!)
(Pictures of the entrance to the Gompa at Lubrang - don't miss our shoes outside the door and the tea kettle kept nearby, also the amazing prayer wheel to the right)
There was something awe-inspiring about us mere mortals being permitted to close our eyes, not in devotion but in slumber, in the presence of divinity. Never had I imagined I would sleep in such a beautiful place, guarded by a statue of the Buddha, surrounded by walls with beautiful paintings and shelves filled with religious items ! The generosity of the village in offering us such hospitality proved that the clichéd ‘atithi devo bhava’ is still practiced in some areas.
Another trek, another shelter – a home stay at village Tolma (altitude approximately 10,000 feet) in the Garhwal Himalayas. Here we stayed in simple rooms in the villager’s houses, the normalcy of it reassuring after an arduous walk in a snow-storm the previous day. Tolma village is defined by Dronagiri mountain in the foreground. T he immensity of the mountain dominates the horizon as it looms over the village like a majestic-but-moody guardian, and the village huddles gratefully-but-carefully by its foot. The early morning has the mountain at its gentlest as the rays of the sun warm its cold visage and a snow plume languidly wafts off its peak. It was lovely to wake up, step out of the room and see a white snow plume stretched out across the blue sky, especially when I knew I had the option of retiring to the sanctuary of the room and snuggling under thick quilts the minute I felt too cold.
The beauty of Tolma was not limited to Dronagiri’s majesty, or the quilts that protected us from Dronagiri’s largesse of icy cool wind blowing off snowy slopes, it was also in the bucket of warm water each of us got for a bath in the makeshift bathroom, and in the nice clean loo that the villagers had constructed specifically for tourists to use. After five days in the wilderness without the pleasures of even basic plumbing, it was a close run thing between Dronagiri and the amenities when it came to deciding which sight gave one more happiness ! Dronagiri eventually won, but only just; quite a typical reaction towards the end of the trek !
No matter how much I relish the experience, after some days of the harsher, more basic existence, my city-bred spoilt side comes rushing to the fore and demands attention. While I love the mountains, I am also used to many amenities of Life in a Metro and start longing for them. Then it’s only the shelter provided by the grimy building where I reside in my dirty polluted Mumbai that I want. As they say, ‘There’s no place like Home’. Amen.
By Zen
(you can read more posts about trekking at http://odatihobo.blogspot.com)
Tents are striking from an aesthetic viewpoint - whether the peaks are covered with shades of summer brown, monsoon green or winter white, the bright orange- yellow – purple tents add a dash of colour and their compact shape makes for a neat picture. However, the low roof and compact size tend to make them a bit claustrophobic and difficult to move about in, especially for someone with a large build, i.e. yours truly.
I would much rather sleep out in the open in a sleeping bag - weather permitting, of course, with the wind on my face, gazing at the starry sky and giggling my way to sleep as my companions come up with non-zodiac descriptions of the stars. Never to be forgotten is one young gentleman’s description of two unusually bright and prominent stars of a constellation as ‘Aunty Sharma’s (pause here for effect)…………..earrings’ and the reactions it evoked, half the group cackling with glee and the other more – astronomically - inclined half wincing at the sacrilegious intrusion on their discussion.
While tents, sleeping bags and caves such as the one in Harishchandragad are all a welcome change from mundane city life and have an adventurous element to them, it is on the Himalayan treks that one really gets to experience the entire range of shelters possible.
While trekking with Odati from an altitude of 12000 ft to that of 14000 ft in Arunachal Pradesh (read Anusha’s description of the trek here), we stayed in log huts made by the GREF - General Reserve Engineering Force. Like the BRO (Border Roads Organisation), these corps, unnoticed and unsung, are responsible for building much of the basic infrastructure in the border areas. When they work in remote areas for a short span of time, they often build log huts to stay in. Two of these, in Nagajiji and Dhonk chi phoo, were a boon to us - it was raining and snowing intermittently at both places and the charm of such weather fades very soon if you are directly exposed to it. Having a GREF hut implies not just thick wooden logs between the elements and yourself, but also a roof high above your head that allows you to stand up straight, enough room for 6-8 people to spread out their things comfortably and the added bonus of a log fire to warm you up. Truly the answer to the wish for a room somewhere !
‘All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air,
Lots of chocolates for me to eat
Lots of coal making lots of heat,
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet,
Aow, wouldn’t it be lovely ? ’
(with apologies to Ms. Eliza Doolittle)
(The GREF hut at Dhonk Chi Phoo)
Each GREF hut has its own unique features that you discover only when you enter. The one we stayed in at Nagajiji was big enough to have contained two Bombay-ishtyle 1BHKs in it. There was a big central fireplace near which we huddled to make the most of the warmth, even stretching our frozen feet out dangerously close to the flames. Around the fireplace were poles on which we tied strings and dried all our wet clothes, thus ending up smelling of wood-smoke for the next few days. The GREF hut in Dhonk chi phoo was as big as the one in Nagajiji but had a wall dividing it into two halves, almost like a planned conservative zenana-mardana divide. The wall even had tiny holes that enabled conversations across it !
In the same mountains but at a lower altitude of 10000 feet, we spent a night at a village called Lubrang near the Bhutan border. After a refreshing walk on a path overhung with rhododendron flowers, we arrived fully satiated and satisfied with the trip, prepared to spend the night in a corner of one of the villager’s houses. We were totally stunned when the village headman, who was our guide, invited us to stay in the village Gompa (Buddhist monastery or place of worship). I initially thought I must have misunderstood him, until one of my companions actually spread out his sleeping bag and went to sleep, right inside the sanctum ! In his defense, I must mention that he was unwell and suffering from fever and a bad cold. (As an aside, consider what a title that would make for a book – ‘I snored at the feet of the Buddha’, a bit blasphemous, but definitely attention grabbing!)
(Pictures of the entrance to the Gompa at Lubrang - don't miss our shoes outside the door and the tea kettle kept nearby, also the amazing prayer wheel to the right)
There was something awe-inspiring about us mere mortals being permitted to close our eyes, not in devotion but in slumber, in the presence of divinity. Never had I imagined I would sleep in such a beautiful place, guarded by a statue of the Buddha, surrounded by walls with beautiful paintings and shelves filled with religious items ! The generosity of the village in offering us such hospitality proved that the clichéd ‘atithi devo bhava’ is still practiced in some areas.
Another trek, another shelter – a home stay at village Tolma (altitude approximately 10,000 feet) in the Garhwal Himalayas. Here we stayed in simple rooms in the villager’s houses, the normalcy of it reassuring after an arduous walk in a snow-storm the previous day. Tolma village is defined by Dronagiri mountain in the foreground. T he immensity of the mountain dominates the horizon as it looms over the village like a majestic-but-moody guardian, and the village huddles gratefully-but-carefully by its foot. The early morning has the mountain at its gentlest as the rays of the sun warm its cold visage and a snow plume languidly wafts off its peak. It was lovely to wake up, step out of the room and see a white snow plume stretched out across the blue sky, especially when I knew I had the option of retiring to the sanctuary of the room and snuggling under thick quilts the minute I felt too cold.
The beauty of Tolma was not limited to Dronagiri’s majesty, or the quilts that protected us from Dronagiri’s largesse of icy cool wind blowing off snowy slopes, it was also in the bucket of warm water each of us got for a bath in the makeshift bathroom, and in the nice clean loo that the villagers had constructed specifically for tourists to use. After five days in the wilderness without the pleasures of even basic plumbing, it was a close run thing between Dronagiri and the amenities when it came to deciding which sight gave one more happiness ! Dronagiri eventually won, but only just; quite a typical reaction towards the end of the trek !
No matter how much I relish the experience, after some days of the harsher, more basic existence, my city-bred spoilt side comes rushing to the fore and demands attention. While I love the mountains, I am also used to many amenities of Life in a Metro and start longing for them. Then it’s only the shelter provided by the grimy building where I reside in my dirty polluted Mumbai that I want. As they say, ‘There’s no place like Home’. Amen.
By Zen
(you can read more posts about trekking at http://odatihobo.blogspot.com)
Friday, May 22, 2009
Evolution of a Facebook User
Sit out the Facebook revolution for several years.
Listen to friends indicate that you are a dinosaur and may be left off the ship earthlings will use to emigrate to the outer worlds when apocalypse hits.
One fine evening, sign up
Cautiously accept pending invites (and wonder how one can get invites even before one even has a Facebook account. This is so Big Brother)
Start responding to messages.
--------
Realise on one slow day that office gives you access to Facebook.
Start commenting on everyone’s pages.
Invite a few friends
---------
Notice number of friends all your friends have and realize you look like the class loser with a pathetically low score.
Get competitive
Start inviting half of your batch from college and B School
--------
Realise you are getting updates on Dinesh Daswani’s life frequently
Realise you have not exchanged more than two words with Dinesh in your entire 2 years at B-School
Realise you are not interested in Dinesh’s life at all.
Spend time contemplating between de-friending Dinesh, abandoning Facebook and turning to Yoga to remove competitive streak in self.
---------
Figure out tools for seeing updates only of ‘close friends’ and feel like an international diplomat bringing smooth solutions to conflict-torn areas.
Realise this is the kind of meaningless work you were worried Facebook would thrust on you.
Kick yourself for succumbing to peer pressure to get a Facebook account and make a mental note that you don’t want to be on the emigration ship. Esp if it has Dinesh Daswani.
-------------
By,
Anita B
(http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
Listen to friends indicate that you are a dinosaur and may be left off the ship earthlings will use to emigrate to the outer worlds when apocalypse hits.
One fine evening, sign up
Cautiously accept pending invites (and wonder how one can get invites even before one even has a Facebook account. This is so Big Brother)
Start responding to messages.
--------
Realise on one slow day that office gives you access to Facebook.
Start commenting on everyone’s pages.
Invite a few friends
---------
Notice number of friends all your friends have and realize you look like the class loser with a pathetically low score.
Get competitive
Start inviting half of your batch from college and B School
--------
Realise you are getting updates on Dinesh Daswani’s life frequently
Realise you have not exchanged more than two words with Dinesh in your entire 2 years at B-School
Realise you are not interested in Dinesh’s life at all.
Spend time contemplating between de-friending Dinesh, abandoning Facebook and turning to Yoga to remove competitive streak in self.
---------
Figure out tools for seeing updates only of ‘close friends’ and feel like an international diplomat bringing smooth solutions to conflict-torn areas.
Realise this is the kind of meaningless work you were worried Facebook would thrust on you.
Kick yourself for succumbing to peer pressure to get a Facebook account and make a mental note that you don’t want to be on the emigration ship. Esp if it has Dinesh Daswani.
-------------
By,
Anita B
(http://royalvilla.blogspot.com)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Atlas Shrugged ?
(Editor’s Note : The title is the comment a friend made while forwarding to me the letter sent earlier this week by JakeDesantis, an executive vice-president of AIGs financial products unit, to Edward M.Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G. The letter, or the link to it, has been forwarded and quoted so many times in the last few days that I have no doubt that you, regular reader, have read it already. Here is the link for the occasional visitor who might not be as well informed.
The post below is an anonymous contributor’s reaction to the issue)
The morality of the payments is not really debatable at all, they're perfectly moral besides being legal. And before anyone tries to lynch me, allow me to explain why. It’s not that difficult .... the top three reasons are
1) They have a contract
2) They have a contract
3) They have a contract
It’s as simple as that, and the rest is just banana republic politics and plain thuggery. For eg ., since all this is related to financial markets, let’s just compare this to the simplest kind of financial instrument .. a forward contract ( as opposed to all those dastardly derivatives that are being blamed for this mess). Let’s say a year back you and I entered into a contract that in one years time, I would buy from you 1 ounce of gold in return for USD 1250 (basically a forward contract) . One year hence, i.e. today, I find that the price of that one ounce in the market is say USD 1000, and so I try to default on my contract with you to push that loss of $250 onto you. Now these are the arguments I would like to give to justify this:-
1) I will default because I can now buy that ounce in the market for $1000, so why should I pay you $1,250 - Go find someone else willing to buy it from you at $1250; Essentially this is what the US government wants to do when they say "Don’t pay them ....let’s see where they can get this kind of money in the current market " .
2) Someone else also made me pay USD 250 extra for a ton of oranges that I bought from them, so I intend to recover it from you. I don’t care if you have never eaten an orange in your life or are allergic to them ....you are all part of this nefarious conspiracy against me. Again, as per the govt's stand, no distinction is necessary between different people performing different functions, working in different markets or even working in different organizations ...go after them all and tax them @ 90%
3) During the course of the year I lost a lot of money in my other dealings in gold, hence I refuse to pay you because you also deal in gold. Like the govt saying that the very people who got us into the mess cannot be paid,without regard to any attempt to distinguish between people, like they're all one big faceless mass.
4) You fooled / tricked / conned me into entering into this contract a year ago ! You should never have done this deal with me! I, a poor innocent have become a victim to your fiendish, devilish intents. That’s right , poor little AIG , this 120,000 strong leading insurance company was "fooled" into entering into employment contracts that guaranteed a certain level of payments irrespective of what happened in the market . Poor folks, looks like they were operating without an HR dept, lawyers, out of some tin shack somewhere and just didn’t understand what they were doing.
5) There's too much poverty in Zimbabwe for me to honor this contract. Aka US Govt ...when people are losing jobs, they should be happy to have a salary and work for free ! We are suddenly all part of a national / world / universal community interested in zen and the art of collective peace !
6) Ok, ok; i shall honour this contract and buy from you at $1250, provided that you deposit $250 in my unmarked swiss account. Aka let them have their bonus, we'll tax it @ 100% ! Sneer Sneer- What’s that - What do you mean where does that tax money go ? Don’t be impertinent.
7) I am bankrupt- get in line with the others to recover your dues! Well, AIG was bankrupt wasn’t it . No wait a minute, we had to save it from bankruptcy under which btw, like any other creditors employees too would have NOT received any of their outstanding bonuses and perhaps not their salary also. However, it was decided to save it and its creditors + employees for the "greater good of the system" ....oops , but now I find I harbour animosities towards a select few, some of those evil millions of bonuses types , and so what the heck, let’s just declare "selective bankruptcy" , sort of like selective memory which will enable me to continue to pay some but not others at the mercy of my whims and fancies . Ain’t life great ! :-)
8) Stop whining - I am doing it because I CAN. And that’s really at the heart of this isn’t it ...I suddenly find myself able to cater to my worst instincts and renege on my word under the guise of taxpayer interests, morality, and other pithy homilies with one finger on a metaphorical trigger. And therefore I shall !
By,
Anonymous.
The post below is an anonymous contributor’s reaction to the issue)
The morality of the payments is not really debatable at all, they're perfectly moral besides being legal. And before anyone tries to lynch me, allow me to explain why. It’s not that difficult .... the top three reasons are
1) They have a contract
2) They have a contract
3) They have a contract
It’s as simple as that, and the rest is just banana republic politics and plain thuggery. For eg ., since all this is related to financial markets, let’s just compare this to the simplest kind of financial instrument .. a forward contract ( as opposed to all those dastardly derivatives that are being blamed for this mess). Let’s say a year back you and I entered into a contract that in one years time, I would buy from you 1 ounce of gold in return for USD 1250 (basically a forward contract) . One year hence, i.e. today, I find that the price of that one ounce in the market is say USD 1000, and so I try to default on my contract with you to push that loss of $250 onto you. Now these are the arguments I would like to give to justify this:-
1) I will default because I can now buy that ounce in the market for $1000, so why should I pay you $1,250 - Go find someone else willing to buy it from you at $1250; Essentially this is what the US government wants to do when they say "Don’t pay them ....let’s see where they can get this kind of money in the current market " .
2) Someone else also made me pay USD 250 extra for a ton of oranges that I bought from them, so I intend to recover it from you. I don’t care if you have never eaten an orange in your life or are allergic to them ....you are all part of this nefarious conspiracy against me. Again, as per the govt's stand, no distinction is necessary between different people performing different functions, working in different markets or even working in different organizations ...go after them all and tax them @ 90%
3) During the course of the year I lost a lot of money in my other dealings in gold, hence I refuse to pay you because you also deal in gold. Like the govt saying that the very people who got us into the mess cannot be paid,without regard to any attempt to distinguish between people, like they're all one big faceless mass.
4) You fooled / tricked / conned me into entering into this contract a year ago ! You should never have done this deal with me! I, a poor innocent have become a victim to your fiendish, devilish intents. That’s right , poor little AIG , this 120,000 strong leading insurance company was "fooled" into entering into employment contracts that guaranteed a certain level of payments irrespective of what happened in the market . Poor folks, looks like they were operating without an HR dept, lawyers, out of some tin shack somewhere and just didn’t understand what they were doing.
5) There's too much poverty in Zimbabwe for me to honor this contract. Aka US Govt ...when people are losing jobs, they should be happy to have a salary and work for free ! We are suddenly all part of a national / world / universal community interested in zen and the art of collective peace !
6) Ok, ok; i shall honour this contract and buy from you at $1250, provided that you deposit $250 in my unmarked swiss account. Aka let them have their bonus, we'll tax it @ 100% ! Sneer Sneer- What’s that - What do you mean where does that tax money go ? Don’t be impertinent.
7) I am bankrupt- get in line with the others to recover your dues! Well, AIG was bankrupt wasn’t it . No wait a minute, we had to save it from bankruptcy under which btw, like any other creditors employees too would have NOT received any of their outstanding bonuses and perhaps not their salary also. However, it was decided to save it and its creditors + employees for the "greater good of the system" ....oops , but now I find I harbour animosities towards a select few, some of those evil millions of bonuses types , and so what the heck, let’s just declare "selective bankruptcy" , sort of like selective memory which will enable me to continue to pay some but not others at the mercy of my whims and fancies . Ain’t life great ! :-)
8) Stop whining - I am doing it because I CAN. And that’s really at the heart of this isn’t it ...I suddenly find myself able to cater to my worst instincts and renege on my word under the guise of taxpayer interests, morality, and other pithy homilies with one finger on a metaphorical trigger. And therefore I shall !
By,
Anonymous.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Prabalgad - In the Sahyadris
There had been a storm warning declared in Bombay the day we visited Prabalgad two years ago; incessant heavy rain had caused flooding during the preceding days and even more rain was expected. As we left early in the morning, we looked at the grey overcast skies and felt like brave adventurers. “I may be a corporate slave chained to a desk from Monday to Friday, but just take a look at what daring death-defying deeds I attempt over the weekend !” One would think we were climbing Everest without oxygen or crossing the ocean in a coracle from the frissons of excitement running through some of us.
Thankfully, Prabalgad is a great trek and does not disappoint charged-up weekend trekkers. It has lush, green, refreshing vegetation – the number of trees and bushes and their varying shades of deep green somehow seem better than many of the other routes in the Sahayadris. There are hills playing hide-and-seek in the mist and streams to splash across on the route. As bonus points to your enthusiastic spirit, halfway up, there is a nice grassy meadow that makes a natural break-for-lunch spot. It is really picturesque as the center patch is grassy and surrounded by a perimeter of trees that sway gently in even a mild breeze.
The climb is pitched at just the right level of difficulty, it does not feel easy but is not too tough either - even a family with a kid did it. Best of all, the first 15 to 20 minutes walk is over a flat area, which gives sufficient time for all one’s muscles to stretch and limber up in preparation for the climb ahead. Given that it is a bit of a long and strenuous trek , such a beginning is a blessing. I definitely prefer such treks to ones, albeit easier climbs, where you begin climbing right at the start. The Prabalgad way, in the beginning, your enjoyment of the scenery and the surroundings is unhindered by panting or wondering when it will end and why you punish yourself like this on a regular basis. On the contrary, in Prabalgad you are raring to go and fully charged when the long climb begins.
Apart from the thicker, more lush vegetation and the conveniently arranged topography, there is definitely something else that is strange about Prabalgad – it’s the very atmosphere. It’s the only trek where five people among the group ended up with the soles of their shoes ripped off, and it isn’t even one of those treks that have uneven terrain and sharp rocks. It’s the only trek I have been on where we were accompanied by two local villagers who disturbed the peace and quiet with squabbles over the correct route throughout and held a diametrically opposite viewpoint on every twist and turn of the path. Not only was each obstinate about establishing that he, and only he, knew the correct path, they were resolute about ‘guiding’ us and refused to go away.
It is also is the only trek I have been on twice, but not made it to the top even once. The first time in Prabalgad, we got lost, came across a lovely waterfall in the afternoon and called a halt there. Away to one end, there was a kind of broad shelf where one could stand with the water pouring over – a lot of people washed their tiredness away by standing under the waterfall and getting a good back massage. The second time in Prabalgad we had almost reached the top, but the last bit of the path had been washed away due to incessant rain. Both times, however, we thoroughly enjoyed the trek and didn’t regret not completing it.
By,
Zen
Thankfully, Prabalgad is a great trek and does not disappoint charged-up weekend trekkers. It has lush, green, refreshing vegetation – the number of trees and bushes and their varying shades of deep green somehow seem better than many of the other routes in the Sahayadris. There are hills playing hide-and-seek in the mist and streams to splash across on the route. As bonus points to your enthusiastic spirit, halfway up, there is a nice grassy meadow that makes a natural break-for-lunch spot. It is really picturesque as the center patch is grassy and surrounded by a perimeter of trees that sway gently in even a mild breeze.
The climb is pitched at just the right level of difficulty, it does not feel easy but is not too tough either - even a family with a kid did it. Best of all, the first 15 to 20 minutes walk is over a flat area, which gives sufficient time for all one’s muscles to stretch and limber up in preparation for the climb ahead. Given that it is a bit of a long and strenuous trek , such a beginning is a blessing. I definitely prefer such treks to ones, albeit easier climbs, where you begin climbing right at the start. The Prabalgad way, in the beginning, your enjoyment of the scenery and the surroundings is unhindered by panting or wondering when it will end and why you punish yourself like this on a regular basis. On the contrary, in Prabalgad you are raring to go and fully charged when the long climb begins.
Apart from the thicker, more lush vegetation and the conveniently arranged topography, there is definitely something else that is strange about Prabalgad – it’s the very atmosphere. It’s the only trek where five people among the group ended up with the soles of their shoes ripped off, and it isn’t even one of those treks that have uneven terrain and sharp rocks. It’s the only trek I have been on where we were accompanied by two local villagers who disturbed the peace and quiet with squabbles over the correct route throughout and held a diametrically opposite viewpoint on every twist and turn of the path. Not only was each obstinate about establishing that he, and only he, knew the correct path, they were resolute about ‘guiding’ us and refused to go away.
It is also is the only trek I have been on twice, but not made it to the top even once. The first time in Prabalgad, we got lost, came across a lovely waterfall in the afternoon and called a halt there. Away to one end, there was a kind of broad shelf where one could stand with the water pouring over – a lot of people washed their tiredness away by standing under the waterfall and getting a good back massage. The second time in Prabalgad we had almost reached the top, but the last bit of the path had been washed away due to incessant rain. Both times, however, we thoroughly enjoyed the trek and didn’t regret not completing it.
By,
Zen
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Learning To Live With Islam
(This post is reprinted from this blog, with due permission of course.)
The veil is not the same as the suicide belt. We can better pursue our values if we recognize the local and cultural context, and appreciate that people want to find their own balance between freedom and order, liberty and license.
--- Fareed Zakaria. Learning to Live With Radical Islam. Newsweek: February 28, 2009.
Sharia demands death for the adulteress
I am not an adulteress
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the gays
I am not a gay
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the blasphemer
I am not a blasphemer
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the apostate
I am not a Muslim
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Islam demands Sharia for everyone
I am no one
I learned to live with Islam.
An adaptation of "First they came...", a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).
By, The Rational Fool
Comments : One of the reasons I like Desipundit is that it regularly introduces me to posts such as this. Something about the poem grabbed my attention when I read it. The wikipedia entry on Pastor Martin Niemoller and his poem was rivetting too. Am copying below the 1976 version of his poem.
- Zen
First They Came (1976 version)
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
The veil is not the same as the suicide belt. We can better pursue our values if we recognize the local and cultural context, and appreciate that people want to find their own balance between freedom and order, liberty and license.
--- Fareed Zakaria. Learning to Live With Radical Islam. Newsweek: February 28, 2009.
Sharia demands death for the adulteress
I am not an adulteress
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the gays
I am not a gay
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the blasphemer
I am not a blasphemer
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Sharia demands death for the apostate
I am not a Muslim
I can learn to live with Sharia.
Islam demands Sharia for everyone
I am no one
I learned to live with Islam.
An adaptation of "First they came...", a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).
By, The Rational Fool
Comments : One of the reasons I like Desipundit is that it regularly introduces me to posts such as this. Something about the poem grabbed my attention when I read it. The wikipedia entry on Pastor Martin Niemoller and his poem was rivetting too. Am copying below the 1976 version of his poem.
- Zen
First They Came (1976 version)
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Obama vs. W - Different or Same ?
Today, contemplating while being snowed in, I started thinking about everything that Obama is doing in his first few days in office. Be it trying to save the economy by bailing out banks, insurance companies, car manufacturers, etc. OR pushing through a 10 year budget OR embarking upon health care reforms OR taxing the rich to feed the coffers & supposedly help the poor... Why is he rushing to get all this done now? Why not space it out over his first term?
So here is my epiphany, he is trying to push as much as possible right now when the country is in panic mode & looking hopefully to the new leader of the free world to fix it. In these "tough economic times", people are willing to overlook any so called inconveniences for the sake of the light at the end of the tunnel - SAVING THE ECONOMY!
Now here is my question - how is this different from the actions of W (Dubya) in 2001? There was panic in the US & in the name of security & defense against the axis of evil, so many initiatives were pushed through which may have made us a safer nation of people, but have also pushed the limit on constitutional rights or even basic human rights. Did we bat an eyelid? No siree! We were rallying around the Commander-in-Chief to save us from terror on our own soil!
In business this is called, taking a bath. So if nothing else, they have an intelligent set of advisors! But woe to the common man! We are being taken for a ride yet again. All my money (through taxes) are being ploughed into penny stock companies like CITI & AIG!
It is time not only to bat eyelids, but banding together to put an end to this nonsensical vicious spiral that we are being dragged into. If companies are not fit to run, let them sink. Do not try & throw these multi-billion dollar life preservers at them! Their mass is so ginormous & unwieldy & grotesque that drowning is inevitable. Live & let die! Survival of the fittest!!
By,
Alok Gupta
So here is my epiphany, he is trying to push as much as possible right now when the country is in panic mode & looking hopefully to the new leader of the free world to fix it. In these "tough economic times", people are willing to overlook any so called inconveniences for the sake of the light at the end of the tunnel - SAVING THE ECONOMY!
Now here is my question - how is this different from the actions of W (Dubya) in 2001? There was panic in the US & in the name of security & defense against the axis of evil, so many initiatives were pushed through which may have made us a safer nation of people, but have also pushed the limit on constitutional rights or even basic human rights. Did we bat an eyelid? No siree! We were rallying around the Commander-in-Chief to save us from terror on our own soil!
In business this is called, taking a bath. So if nothing else, they have an intelligent set of advisors! But woe to the common man! We are being taken for a ride yet again. All my money (through taxes) are being ploughed into penny stock companies like CITI & AIG!
It is time not only to bat eyelids, but banding together to put an end to this nonsensical vicious spiral that we are being dragged into. If companies are not fit to run, let them sink. Do not try & throw these multi-billion dollar life preservers at them! Their mass is so ginormous & unwieldy & grotesque that drowning is inevitable. Live & let die! Survival of the fittest!!
By,
Alok Gupta
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Bombay United - Suggestions Anyone ?
I feel that despite the large volumes of information available on the internet today, Google searches hold the key to where you end up finding what you're looking for.
I joined an outfit called "Bombay United" recently, in the hope that I can help develop their website http://www.bombayunited.org to be the first stop for all things related to the city's administration. The idea is to not duplicate information that's already out there, but instead organize it under one roof for easy access.
Preliminary ideas include:
About Us - mission, vision, members, you know the drill...
Blogs on Bombay - like BombayAddict, Sonia Faleiro, Mumbai Info, etc and possibly one of our own for members to post
Bombay Info - alphabetically organized e.g. [V]oter Registration, [W]ards, etc - our site will provide (working) links to information that's already been posted, like Jaago Re
Trivia of the Week - to encourage people to keep visiting (though I think this might be a bit ambitious. It may have to be fortnightly!
Important Links - like Traffic Police, MCGM, Maharashtra Govt. websites and also NGOs like AGNI and Karma Yog
Find Your Ward - perhaps the biggest mystery to some of us who don't know which ward and constituency we fall under
Other stuff like a calendar of events (Bombay United and other events), Contact Us, Mailing Lists, Meeting Minutes, etc
It would be really useful if you guys email me suggestions on what else could be included, or which of the above items you think are a waste of time / useless to readers.. All comments are welcome. Also, if you're willing to run the above post on your blog and spread the word, that would be fantastic.
Thanks,
Sanjana
(http://the-strawberry-fields.com)
I joined an outfit called "Bombay United" recently, in the hope that I can help develop their website http://www.bombayunited.org to be the first stop for all things related to the city's administration. The idea is to not duplicate information that's already out there, but instead organize it under one roof for easy access.
Preliminary ideas include:
About Us - mission, vision, members, you know the drill...
Blogs on Bombay - like BombayAddict, Sonia Faleiro, Mumbai Info, etc and possibly one of our own for members to post
Bombay Info - alphabetically organized e.g. [V]oter Registration, [W]ards, etc - our site will provide (working) links to information that's already been posted, like Jaago Re
Trivia of the Week - to encourage people to keep visiting (though I think this might be a bit ambitious. It may have to be fortnightly!
Important Links - like Traffic Police, MCGM, Maharashtra Govt. websites and also NGOs like AGNI and Karma Yog
Find Your Ward - perhaps the biggest mystery to some of us who don't know which ward and constituency we fall under
Other stuff like a calendar of events (Bombay United and other events), Contact Us, Mailing Lists, Meeting Minutes, etc
It would be really useful if you guys email me suggestions on what else could be included, or which of the above items you think are a waste of time / useless to readers.. All comments are welcome. Also, if you're willing to run the above post on your blog and spread the word, that would be fantastic.
Thanks,
Sanjana
(http://the-strawberry-fields.com)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Bell Bajao !
Once upon a time, Z lived in a flat adjoining one occupied by an ogre and his persecuted family. Z’s days were happy and fun-filled, yet sometimes she had nightmares and was unable to sleep properly. This used to happen on nights when she had heard shouting and shrieking from the ogre’s house as she began to fall asleep - she dreaded the times the ogre lost his temper and she would hear his gruff voice raised in anger. Sometimes she lay awake trying to convince herself that the high-pitched shrieks she heard were screams of frustration or retaliation and not of someone in pain; she tried to wrap herself in a snug cocoon of false conviction so that she did not feel guilty about doing nothing; but reality would insist on unraveling it, bringing along a bitter and feverish feeling in her stomach, a tightening of her face muscles and a grinding of teeth. She felt totally helpless – unable to block it out, unable to figure out what to do to stop it.
Z moved on, changed houses, continued to be happy and enjoy life (this is where you touch wood for luck). But every so often she wondered what would have been the appropriate course of action and about its consequences - alerting the police, alerting an NGO, speaking to the aggressor etc, would an intervention have made the victims’ life better or worse ?
……………………
If, like me, you have been through such a scenario, you will understand why I was thrilled to read this article in the newspaper one day.
Finally, there is an organization that has outlined a simple solution that a concerned individual can adopt in such a situation. It’s ‘Bell Bajao’
, or, ‘Ring the Bell’. (see the ads here, here, here and here)
Bell Bajao, an awareness and intervention campaign to bring domestic violence to an end was launched in August 2008 by Breakthrough, an organization dedicated to gender rights. Created pro bono by Ogilvy and Mather, the TV commercial has been distributed across popular TV channels. It has also been distributed across radio channels, press and the Internet. Video vans will follow with on-ground activation across six districts over 150 days to begin with, building awareness on issues regarding domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
This campaign asks men to take a stand in order to reduce the violence done by other men. It aims at killing the ‘it's not my business’ and ‘it will be of no use’ mentality. It seeks to engage men as direct partners ready to 'ring the bell', and intervene in situations of abuse - a path-breaking venture within the Indian context. Breakthrough sees the involvement of men as important for many reasons. Key amongst those are the fact that men are more likely to listen to other men, and less likely to see domestic violence as permissible if other men in their society look down on it. Also, men are an integral part of the community that supports and interacts with families dealing with violence - they are the majority of judges, police officers, and doctors who work with families in crisis.
My only quibble (and a tiny one) against this campaign is that it does not give concerned women any advice at all. How about a Bell Bajao phase 3 where women ring on the doorbell ? I would like to understand whether the thought of a woman – and an outsider at that - questioning him drive the aggressor to attack the victim with even more force than usual later ? Is there a chance of violence being committed on the woman ringing the door-bell too ? I would really like to know the answer to both these questions – there’s a doorbell in a nearby suburb that’s waiting for me and I want to be aware of the consequences first. (Yes, I am a coward. Don’t bother saying it. )
By,
Zenobia Driver
For those of you that want to read more :
This site gives information about what all constitutes domestic violence, statistics on violence, what to do if you know someone who is being abused, what can the abused do to help herself etc. The statistics on domestic violence are truly shocking – one out of three women in India faces some form of domestic violence at home ! 51% of the 75,000 men surveyed thought that hitting their wives is acceptable, if in-laws were disrespected; with a smaller number thinking that bad cooking/refusing sex were also legitimate reasons.
This is a short primer about the laws on domestic violence in India, and this is an article on the long struggle towards a law against domestic violence.
Go ahead now ! If you’ve read this far, you’ve read enough to be convinced - Take The Bell Bajao Pledge
p.s. Cannot end without mentioning this. Breakthrough is also the organization responsible for the ‘Mann ke Manjeere’ album, a collaborative effort with singer Shubha Mudgal, Prasoon Joshi and Shantanu Moitra. View the song here
Z moved on, changed houses, continued to be happy and enjoy life (this is where you touch wood for luck). But every so often she wondered what would have been the appropriate course of action and about its consequences - alerting the police, alerting an NGO, speaking to the aggressor etc, would an intervention have made the victims’ life better or worse ?
……………………
If, like me, you have been through such a scenario, you will understand why I was thrilled to read this article in the newspaper one day.
Finally, there is an organization that has outlined a simple solution that a concerned individual can adopt in such a situation. It’s ‘Bell Bajao’
, or, ‘Ring the Bell’. (see the ads here, here, here and here)
Bell Bajao, an awareness and intervention campaign to bring domestic violence to an end was launched in August 2008 by Breakthrough, an organization dedicated to gender rights. Created pro bono by Ogilvy and Mather, the TV commercial has been distributed across popular TV channels. It has also been distributed across radio channels, press and the Internet. Video vans will follow with on-ground activation across six districts over 150 days to begin with, building awareness on issues regarding domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
This campaign asks men to take a stand in order to reduce the violence done by other men. It aims at killing the ‘it's not my business’ and ‘it will be of no use’ mentality. It seeks to engage men as direct partners ready to 'ring the bell', and intervene in situations of abuse - a path-breaking venture within the Indian context. Breakthrough sees the involvement of men as important for many reasons. Key amongst those are the fact that men are more likely to listen to other men, and less likely to see domestic violence as permissible if other men in their society look down on it. Also, men are an integral part of the community that supports and interacts with families dealing with violence - they are the majority of judges, police officers, and doctors who work with families in crisis.
My only quibble (and a tiny one) against this campaign is that it does not give concerned women any advice at all. How about a Bell Bajao phase 3 where women ring on the doorbell ? I would like to understand whether the thought of a woman – and an outsider at that - questioning him drive the aggressor to attack the victim with even more force than usual later ? Is there a chance of violence being committed on the woman ringing the door-bell too ? I would really like to know the answer to both these questions – there’s a doorbell in a nearby suburb that’s waiting for me and I want to be aware of the consequences first. (Yes, I am a coward. Don’t bother saying it. )
By,
Zenobia Driver
For those of you that want to read more :
This site gives information about what all constitutes domestic violence, statistics on violence, what to do if you know someone who is being abused, what can the abused do to help herself etc. The statistics on domestic violence are truly shocking – one out of three women in India faces some form of domestic violence at home ! 51% of the 75,000 men surveyed thought that hitting their wives is acceptable, if in-laws were disrespected; with a smaller number thinking that bad cooking/refusing sex were also legitimate reasons.
This is a short primer about the laws on domestic violence in India, and this is an article on the long struggle towards a law against domestic violence.
Go ahead now ! If you’ve read this far, you’ve read enough to be convinced - Take The Bell Bajao Pledge
p.s. Cannot end without mentioning this. Breakthrough is also the organization responsible for the ‘Mann ke Manjeere’ album, a collaborative effort with singer Shubha Mudgal, Prasoon Joshi and Shantanu Moitra. View the song here
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